Swiss It Up

Red and Harold sell the show to a Swiss investor, making some dramatic changes in the process.

Cast (in order of appearance):, , , ,

DVD: The Red Green Show – 1997 Season

Watch the episode on YouTube

Segment Summary
See also: Transcript

Plot: Red announces that he and Harold had sold the show to Europe. Harold corrects him, that the show has been sold to a country in Europe, not to Europe. Red says that the country they sold the show to is Sweden, but again Harold corrects him: it was not Sweden that bought the show, it was Switzerland. As part of the purchase, Red and Harold receive gifts: a fancy Swiss Army Knife for Harold and a huge chocolate bar for Red that Harold wants badly. Later, however, Red learns that the sale hit some snags, for which he blames creative differences. He decides to make changes to the show to suit the Swiss, which he does, with Harold dressed as a yodeling Swiss mountaineer, Red speaking very bad German, and the introduction of a new character: Fritz the Swiss cuckoo clock. Eventually, Red learns that the buyer didn't speak English, and when the show was translated for him, he backed out of the deal, thus returning things to normal.

Red's Campfire Songs: What happens after you hand your car keys to a valet.

Handyman Corner: Red makes an Airstream trailer out of a boat, a boat trailer and various appliance doors.

Midlife: How to use your inheritance to receive favors.

The Possum Lodge Word Game: Winston tries to guess the word "artificial" to win a pad of paper.

Adventures With Bill: Red and Bill try various yo-yo tricks.

If It Ain't Broke, You're Not Trying: Hap brings in a hockey stick for Red to repair. The hockey stick in question is autographed by the entire Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team that won the Stanley Cup in 1967 and which Hap was a part of at that time.

Explanations

 * The German phrases in this episode translate as follows:
 * "Damen und herren" = "Ladies and gentlemen".
 * "Hallo, mein onkel, Rote Grün! Wie getz es einen?" = "Hello, my uncle, Red Green! How are you?"
 * "Ein prosit, ein prosit der gemütlichkeit" = "A toast, a toast of comfort" (or "to your health").

Trivia

 * Red and Harold's gifts are a large box of Toblerone chocolate and a Swiss Army Knife, respectively.
 * Harold lists off several items that have not actually been made as part of a Swiss Army Knife, though some real items could be used to serve these functions:
 * An "escape knife"
 * A pencil sharpener
 * Pencil, pen and eraser
 * Nail clippers
 * A guitar pick
 * A skeleton key
 * Any software (USB thumb drives and other portable solid-state media did not exist at the time this episode was produced).
 * Bill creates a "cat's cradle" out of his yo-yo string.
 * It is revealed that Red is allergic to spider bites.

Inside References

 * This episode is the second time the show has been sold to a foreign network and undergone changes to accommodate the new people in charge. This previously occurred with an American network in The Network Deal.
 * Bill pulls several yo-yos out of his pants.
 * Bill's first yo-yo accidentally knocks the Possum Van's left rear-view mirror off the van.

Real-World References

 * Red and Hap discuss the Toronto Maple Leafs, an NHL hockey team which won the Stanley Cup in 1967. Aside from Hap, each of the players mentioned was a member of the team that year.
 * Red's comment about the cat's cradle that Bill creates is an offhanded reference to the 1974 song "Cat's in the Cradle", by Harry Chapin.
 * Harold mentions the video game DOOM, which is one of the items found in his Swiss Army Knife.
 * Red's comment to Bernice about "You be Heidi and I'll be Sieki" refers to both the title character in the novel by Johanna Spyri, and the children's game of hide and seek.